Canadian Open Chess Championship

The Canadian Open Chess Championship is Canada's Open chess championship, first held in 1956, and held annually since 1973, usually in mid-summer. It is organized by the Chess Federation of Canada. The event celebrated its 50th rendition in 2013.

History

It was organized every two years from 1956 until 1970. The tournament rotates around the country, and has been held in eight of Canada's ten provinces during its 63-year history, missing only Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The format has usually been a Swiss system with nine or ten rounds, usually over a nine-day period. It is open to all players who wish to enter, from Grandmasters to beginners.

The Championship's list of winners has included some of the world's strongest players, including Grandmasters Boris Spassky (in 1971, while he was World chess champion), Bent Larsen, Alexei Shirov, Vassily Ivanchuk, Viktor Bologan, Artur Yusupov, Bu Xiangzhi, Alexander Moiseenko, Kevin Spraggett, Ljubomir Ljubojević, Larry Evans, Pal Benko, William Lombardy, Gyula Sax, Igor Vasilyevich Ivanov, Walter Browne, Tony Miles, Larry Christiansen, Joel Benjamin, Eduardas Rozentalis, Vladimir Tukmakov, Jonathan Rowson, Luke McShane, Vladimir Epishin, Vladimir Malaniuk, Pentala Harikrishna, Alexander Shabalov, Nigel Short, Eric Hansen, and many other top stars.

The first tournament in Montreal 1956 was noteworthy for the presence of 13-year-old Bobby Fischer, a future World chess champion, who tied for 8-12th places. Montreal 1974 saw the largest attendance to date, with 648 players. Ottawa 2007 set a tournament record with 22 Grandmasters participating. Canadian Grandmaster Kevin Spraggett has the record for most titles with eight (either clear first or shared). Laszlo Witt made a perfect score (9-0) at Ottawa 1962; this was matched by Alexander Cherniev at Regina 2019.[1] Mark Bluvshtein is the youngest champion, at age 17 at Edmonton in 2005. Daniel Yanofsky was the oldest champion, at age 54, also in Edmonton in 1979. Toronto has hosted the most Opens with ten, followed by Ottawa with seven and Edmonton with six.

The 2014 edition was held in Montreal from July 19–26. In 2015, no tournament was held. In 2018, the Open was held in Quebec City on July 6–13. In 2019, it was held in Regina, Saskatchewan, the first time ever in that province.

List of winners and tournament sites

#YearCityWinner
11956MontrealLarry Evans, William Lombardy
21958WinnipegElod Macskasy
31960KitchenerAnthony Saidy
41962OttawaLaszlo Witt
51964TorontoPal Benko
61966KingstonLarry Evans
71968TorontoBent Larsen
81970St. John'sBent Larsen
91971VancouverBoris Spassky, Hans Ree
101973OttawaDuncan Suttles
111974MontrealLjubomir Ljubojević
121975CalgaryLeonid Shamkovich
131976TorontoNick de Firmian, Lawrence Day
141977FrederictonJan Green-Krotki
151978HamiltonGyula Sax
161979EdmontonDaniel Yanofsky
171980OttawaLawrence Day
181981BeauportIgor Vasilyevich Ivanov
191982VancouverGordon Taylor
201983TorontoKevin Spraggett, Bozidar Ivanovic
211984OttawaIgor Vasilyevich Ivanov, Dave Ross, Brett Campbell, Denis Allan
221985EdmontonIgor Vasilyevich Ivanov, Brian Hartman
231986WinnipegArtur Yusupov, Viktor Kupreichik
241987TorontoKevin Spraggett
251988TorontoLawrence Day
261989EdmontonVladimir Tukmakov
271990EdmundstonGeorgi Timoshenko
281991WindsorWalter Browne
291992TorontoAlexei Barsov, Bryon Nickoloff
301993LondonKevin Spraggett
311994WinnipegVladimir Tukmakov
321995TorontoKevin Spraggett, Eduardas Rozentalis, Deen Hergott,
Bryon Nickoloff, Ron Livshits
331996CalgaryKevin Spraggett
341997WinnipegJulian Hodgson
351998OttawaKevin Spraggett, Dimitri Tyomkin,
Michael Oratovsky, Evgeny Prokopchuk
361999VancouverKevin Spraggett, Georgi Orlov
372000EdmontonJoel Benjamin, Kevin Spraggett, Jonathan Rowson
382001SackvilleTony Miles, Larry Christiansen
392002MontrealPascal Charbonneau, Jean Hebert, Jean-Marc Degraeve
402003KapuskasingAlexander Moiseenko
412004KapuskasingAlexander Moiseenko, Dimitri Tyomkin
422005EdmontonVassily Ivanchuk, Alexei Shirov, Viktor Bologan,
Mark Bluvshtein, Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury
432006KitchenerWalter Arencibia, Abhijit Kunte
442007OttawaBu Xiangzhi
452008MontrealAlexander Moiseenko, Victor Mikhalevski, Eduardas Rozentalis,
Matthieu Cornette
462009EdmontonMark Bluvshtein, Edward Porper
472010TorontoLuke McShane
482011TorontoWalter Arencibia, Joel Benjamin, Dejan Bojkov
492012VictoriaEric Hansen
502013OttawaNigel Short, Eric Hansen
512014MontrealSergei Tiviakov (on Armageddon tiebreak, ahead of
Robin van Kampen and Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami)
522016WindsorGergely Antal
532017Sault Ste. MarieRazvan Preotu, Aman Hambleton
542018Quebec CityBitan Banerjee (on tiebreak, ahead of Raymond Kaufman)
552019ReginaAlexander Cherniaev

See also

References

  1. chess.ca, crosstable for 2019 Canadian Open, Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 2009 Canadian Open official website
  • 2013 Canadian Open official website
  • 2014 Canadian Open official website
  • 2016 Canadian Open official website
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